When voting still matters, even if every candidate is a shoo-in

This was the scene most of the day in the village room Tuesday.

It's always been something that's been engrained in me since I was in school: vote, vote, vote and yes, don't forget to vote. Your voice is important.

That's why it was slightly stunning to see only eight ballots cast in the Manchester village elections Tuesday when I stopped by the polling place at 12:30 p.m. in the village hall.

Sure, there were only four candidates running for four slots in an election in September, but surely more than eight folks would turn up before noon, right?

Many will say, "what does it matter? Those four people are going to get elected anyway" and not show up to vote. To a degree, this makes sense for all of us, and I might have done the same before. But my thinking has changed.

Here's an interesting tale to put things in perspective: a woman in Burton, a suburb of Flint, ran for the lone spot on the Bentley school board in May. She was a write-in candidate for one of two spots, and was the only other eligible candidate. In other words, one vote for her would win.

But she didn't win. She failed to have one person vote for her, including herself that day.

She told The Flint Journal she was at her son's baseball game, and couldn't make it to the polls.

“I (thought I) would have gotten a vote,” she told The Journal. “I had plenty of people I know that would have gone up there and voted.”

Because of remembering this incident and seeing the low vote total in the afternoon, I asked Village Clerk Julie Schaible Tuesday afternoon what would happen if someone, for some reason, didn't get a vote. She was not completely sure how it would be handled, understandably so. It's not like this happens all the time.

Thankfully, no such incident happened. All four candidates received at least one vote, and they'll be sworn in on Oct. 3. But it does put things in perspective: just because someone is a shoo-in for a seat doesn't always mean they'll get voted in. Which is why that old cliche, "every vote counts" still rings true today.

The Wurster Park gazebo is getting a facelift

Hopefully this will fix the leaking roof in the gazebo in Wurster Park.

Today, Tom Pratt of C. Schmitt Contracting was working on the roof of the gazebo, ripping up shingles in preparation of installing new ones this week.

Pratt said the roof will have shingles instead of wood to help prevent leaking.

The village contracted with C. Schmitt Contracting to repair the roof for $1,120 earlier this year.

More photos from the field day on the Kuhl farm in Sharon Township

Going out to the farm on a cool September afternoon was the perfect way to spend some time out in the Greater Manchester area.

I attended my first field day Tuesday at the Kuhl family farm on Peckins Lane in Sharon Township, midway between Manchester and Chelsea. The subject matter dealt with soybean aphids and different types of fertilizers for both soybeans and corn.

We went out into the field to observe some of the traps that had been set up for the bugs, and Ned Birkey from the Michigan State University Extension demonstrated and showed the traps to the farmers in attendance, which equaled about 30.

Here are some photos from the event, as well as a speech given by Keith Reinholt of the Michigan  Soybean Committee on aphids:

Procrastination can be productive

Procrastination isn't always a waste. See how this reporter takes a day dream and comes up with a story idea. You never know what will inspire you. View my stream of consciousness/events below.

I need a story idea.

What can I write about?

Is it time for lunch yet?

I have leftover Mexican.

I wonder what Manchester students eat in the school cafeteria.

I think I'll look at the Manchester cafeteria menus.

Man, I used to love those peanut butter and jelly graham cracker sandwiches my elementary school served. I wonder if I can find them.

Google search peanut butter and jelly graham cracker sandwiches.

Find image of sandwich.

Look at photo comments and find out they were served at a Relay for Life event and commenter says you can buy them at MarketDay.com.

Find out MarketDay.com is a fundraising website.

Search groups using MarketDay.com near Manchester.

Discover Manchester band boosters are affiliated with MarketDay.com.

Decide to write story about Manchester school fundraisers.

Purchase peanut butter and jelly graham cracker sandwiches.

New Lawn Sod Farm

This morning I went to New Lawn Sod Farm in Van Buren Township. The DeBuck family talked to me about the business and had me ride on the harvester. View some photos below.

Live chat regarding the Todd Green photo incident

Heritage will host a live chat today at 3 p.m. for members of the community who would like to have a discussion regarding the photo incident that has shown much outcry on The Enterprise's Facebook page.

The chat is embedded on our website here, but will also take place here on our blog. We hope you can join us and have a discussion with us regarding the incident.

Reminder: Comments are moderated. Vulgarity, libelous comments and personal attacks will not be tolerated.

More photos from Saturday's Medieval Faire

If you were like me Saturday, you traveled back in time a few hundred years visiting Carr Park.

The library hosted its second Medieval Faire, this time taking advantage of the large space on the park on the west side of Manchester. As soon as you arrived, you spotted people wearing hats they wouldn't wear today, heard the clanging of the metal worker and heard the trumpet of the heralder announce events about to take place.

The big event had to be the sword fighting, where demonstrators from Jackson and Ann Arbor were on hand to answer questions and act as a medieval resource.

And even the animal lovers had something to look forward to: a pen of Great Danes came out, as well as a hawk used for falconry. It was quite the scene.

Here are some other photos from the event, as well as a compilation video I compiled from Saturday's faire: